In an ongoing effort to introduce our readers to the eminent members of the editorial board that advises and serves the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, in this issue we highlight Drs. Beverly Green, John Ely, William Alto, and Dean Seehusen.
Bill Alto graduated from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1975 and completed his Family Medicine Residency at the University of Massachusetts. Following his mentor's advice, he left the country to work in St. Lucia, Papua New Guinea, and Micronesia before returning in 1990. Dr. Alto holds an MPH in Health Education and a Certificate in Tropical Medicine and Traveler's Health, and has served on the faculty at Maine Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency for 14 years. His interests include addiction medicine, interventional dentistry, tropical medicine, public health, and maternal-child health. As an international health consultant he has authored numerous articles and The Little Black Book of International Medicine, published by Jones and Bartlett.1
William A. Alto, MD, MPH
John Ely received a BS degree from Hiram College in Ohio and earned his MD degree from the State University of New York—Upstate Medical Center. After completing family medicine residency training at the University of Washington, Dr. Ely spent 2 years in the Navy at Cherry Point, North Carolina. He then practiced for 13 years in Lake City, Iowa (population 2000), before entering a faculty development fellowship at the University of Missouri—Columbia.
John W. Ely, MD, MSPH
Dr. Ely has been on the faculty at the University of Iowa in the Department of Family Medicine for the past 16 years. At the University of Iowa, John focused his research on physicians’ information needs and medical errors. He has studied how physician find answers—or don't find answers—to the clinical questions that arise every day in practice. His current interests involve how to effectively answer questions about patient care with recommendations that can be directly applied to patients. In addition, he is working with colleagues to develop checklists, similar to pilot's checklists, to help physicians avoid making diagnostic errors. Dr. Ely has published 2 articles with very high readership in the JABFM: “Approach to Leg Edema of Unclear Etiology ”2 and “Abnormal Uterine Bleeding: A Management Algorithm”3; both are currently in the top 10 of our most-frequently read articles and were among the 20 most-frequently read articles in 20074 and in 2008.5
Beverly B. Green, MD, MPH, is a practicing family physician and preventive care specialist at Group Health Cooperative, a large Seattle-based health plan. She is an associate clinical professor at the University of Washington in the Department of Family Medicine. Dr. Green completed a Robert Wood Johnson Faculty Development Fellowship and MPH degree in epidemiology at University of Washington in 1983.
Beverly B. Green, MD, MPH
Dr. Green is also an affiliate investigator at the Group Health Center for Health Studies, conducting health services research with a focus on cardiovascular disease and cancer screening. She has served as a former chair of Group Health's Committee on Prevention. She received the Glenn Hartquist Award in 1999, which is awarded to the Group Health physician who has contributed the most to clinical quality improvement, and was a finalist for the Group Health Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. She is the primary investigator for 2 National Institute of Health–funded grants awarded to the Group Health Center for Health Studies. The first, “Electronic Communications and Blood Pressure Monitoring (e-BP),” tested whether home blood pressure monitoring, secure messaging, and pharmacist care improves hypertension control.6 The second, “Systems of Support to Improve Colorectal Cancer and Follow-up (SOS),” is testing whether mail, telephone, and nurse support improves colorectal cancer screening rates.
Dr. Green has more than 20 years of experience in the development and implementation of evidence-based guidelines, including guidelines on nutrition, exercise, obesity, hypertension, colon, breast and prostate cancer screening, and osteoporosis. In August 2008, Dr Green was selected as “The Author in the Room,” a monthly teleconference sponsored by the Journal of the American Medical Association and the Institute of Health Improvement.
Dean Seehusen is currently Research Director of the Department of Family Medicine and the Chairman of the Institutional Review Board at the Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia. He earned his medical degree from the University of Iowa and an MPH from the University of Washington. He is a graduate of the Tripler Army Medical Center Family Medicine Residency and the Madigan Army Medical Center Faculty Development Fellowship in Family Medicine. Dr. Seehusen is a Diplomate and Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians and a member of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Research Committee.
Dean A. Seehusen, MD, MPH, FAAFP
Changes on the JABFM Editorial Board
In June 2008, the JABFM welcomed M. Norman Oliver, MD, of the University of Virginia to its board of editors. In addition, James Mold, MD, a long-time board member agreed to serve as an Associate Editor. Two board members have finished their terms, and we extend our gratitude to Helen McIlvain, PhD, and Joseph Konen, MD, MSPH.
New Guest Commentary Feature
We are excited to announce our new Guest Family Physician Commentaries feature, which premiered in the JABFM's July/August 2009 issue. These commentaries will feature brief reactions from practicing physicians about how original research is relevant to clinical practice. It is an experimental effort to bridge the gap between the primary care researchers and clinicians. These commentaries are intended to help practicing physicians identify “pearls” from research and to inform researchers as to how their work might be translated into practice. If you are a practicing physician interested in writing brief commentaries, please send a statement of interest along with your curriculum vitae to Mr. Phillip Lupo, JABFM Senior Editorial Assistant, at jabfm{at}med.wayne.edu.
JABFM's 2008 Impact Factor
The JABFM's impact factor increased to 2.097 in 2008. Impact factors indicate the extent to which other researchers cite journal articles. Impact factors are published in the Journal Citation Reports and a further explanation of impact factors and other bibliometric measurements may be found on the ISI Web of Knowledge website7 underneath the Additional Resources tab.
Notes
Conflict of interest: The authors are editors of the JABFM.
